The Bay of Pigs (1961) and October Missile Crisis (1962) are long-past historical events some of us remember well, and they are mysteriously still relevant today in U.S.-Cuban foreign policy.
For the past five decades, America has persisted in its long-standing trade embargo on Cuba, but the eventual loser will be America.
With Fidel Castro slowly passing into senility and his younger brother, Raul, ensconced in power, the direction of Cuba's political-economic system is slowly moving away from its revolutionary, communist ideals toward a new era and brighter future.
If Fidel was suddenly to pass away, Raul's job would be much easier but since he lingers on, Raul must tread carefully.
The people of Cuba are ready for a change from the 1960s directly into the 21st century, and for the younger generation the Revolution is only history learned at school. With restrictions on cell-phones, the internet and travel to foreign countries, it has made Cuba's transition difficult although that, too, is changing. Cuba has trade with almost every country of the world except for America and its ally, Israel.
Although 180-plus nations at the UN have voted in favour of the US ending its punishing embargo against the Cuban people, the U.S. has staunchly refused to budge. Instead, it has tried, unsuccessfully, to use subversive tactics to end communism brought in by Fidel Castro in its famous 1959 Revolution and bring about a regime change.
Americans must also remember their part in the Cuban Revolution. Their man in Havana was none other than President Fulgencio Batista and like many other brutal dictators in Central and South America he was supported in various ways by the USA. Cuban communism was nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to Batista's bloody dictatorship with the result that Fidel Castro and his small band of mountain guerrillas were able to overthrow the island's corrupt government.
Through several decades now, Cuba's economy has suffered greatly and with no personal incentives to drive them forward to prosperity, its people have settled into overall stagnation. Its only progressive areas - education and health - have not been enough to draw it back into the mainstream of modern-day economics and Western-style
civilization.
The US embargo has been highly successful and too successful for others. Many Americans, including Henry Kissinger and former Senate Foreign Relations Committee lead investigator, Fulton Armstrong, strongly believe that the embargo has outlived its usefulness and is the wrong direction for America to take vis--vis Cuba.
America's misguided policy of embargo against Cuba is largely driven by Florida's Cuban population and the votes they generate in presidential elections. Pandering to the Floridian-Cuban vote has allowed this badly outdated policy which appears, to many, more vindictive than practical to persist.
Also, America's misguided policy of undercover black-ops has backfired and left it out in the cold whereas countries like Brazil, Spain, Venezuela, China, Italy and others are now reaping the benefits of their investments into gas and oil exploration just off Cuba's shores and the development of tourism, new golf courses, harbours and marinas along its sunny coasts.
Cuba is changing. Raul and his Raulistas have designed, and now integrated, a new direction for Cuba which, at present, does not include neighbouring America. Raul has also announced that the government will no longer micro-manage the economy and personal lives of Cubans which means only one thing - communism will soon give way to a mixed economy. And, with this new economy in place, personal freedoms and pursuit of a free market will eventually follow.
When Cuba finally opens up to the world, America will be on the outside looking in.
